Thursday, May 1, 2014

Just like all TEDDY
kiddos, we were approached at the hospital right after Kyli was born. With my
mom being a type 1 diabetic, I figured this was God knocking on our door
telling us to do the study. About 2 months later, we received "the
envelope." In college, this is a
great thing, but from a study, it meant they wanted Kyli in the study. From
this point forward, I knew Kyli was going to develop diabetes...

At 33 months, Kyli
was diagnosed with Diabetes in our TEDDY facility.

Her 33 month visit
went like any other visit. Ask all the questions, take some blood, nose swipe.
We started discussing a few things she would be able to do once she turned 3
years old. I thought this appointment
was going to be a piece of cake. Kyli did wonderfully, no fighting the blood
draw. We were going to be in and
out. I look back and I still think, I
should never have been so comfortable. I knew something was up the moment Nurse
Ruth (our favorite nurse) came into the playroom and told us Kyli's A1C was
next in line and we would have to wait a few more minutes. I thought it was
odd, but dismissed it. A few minutes later when she asked us to come back to
our room, I got scared. I grabbed Kyli
and held her tight as they then told me her A1C was elevated to 7.4, not bad
for a diabetic, but bad for a healthy child. As I wept silent tears, I listened
as our life began a huge change. They
brought up an endocrinologist from the downstairs Barbara Davis Center clinic
to talk with me and what all this meant. I was asked to watch her sugars
closely for the next few days, let her eat what she wants and test her 2 hours
later, and if she was high, to call them.

I packed up Kyli after nurses made sure
I was able to safely drive and I drove straight to my Mom's work, which was
thankfully on the way home. I cried and we went to lunch at Jack in the Box.
Kyli ate a handful of fries, about half of a cheeseburger, and drank some milk.
I went home and waited the longest 2 hours of my life. I did everything to make
that time go faster. The two hour mark
finally came through, she was napping… I went in tested her sugars, 440. I then went to my room and cried, my 2 year
old daughter was now diabetic. I called
the doctor then and asked, "What is too high?" He said 250.

We then made an appointment for
us to come in the next day, Saturday, to do a quick injection overview to get
us started. Kyli was diagnosed September 21, 2012.

This last year has been a blur. We have adjusted to her
having diabetes. Her early diagnosis was a blessing, we are still in our
Honeymoon Phase, which means that her pancreas still works some. She requires
very small doses of insulin, but nonetheless gets 4-8 shots a day depending on
what she eats and when. We have become carb counting machines. We were able to get a Dexcom G4 Continous
Glucose Monitor in June, it is my new best friend. Kyli will be getting her insulin pump in
October, it will be a blessing.

Kyli has adjusted to all the changes very well. A month
after her diagnosis, we did our first Diabetes walk with the ADA. We are doing
that walk again this year in November. Go Team Tiny!

What we missed before her diagnosis. It was the end of
summer in Colorado, it is still hot then. All of Kyli's symptoms were accounted
for. Kyli slept a lot, 10-12 hours a night and usually a 4hour nap- she was
going through a growth spurt. Kyli was peeing more, we were potty training.
Kyli was drinking more, it was during a super hot spell in Colorado and she
played outside every day. She never lost weight. Now, when I look back, I
remember thinking her sleeping so much was odd, but I dismissed it. We were
lucky, if a few more weeks had gone by, Kyli could have gone DKA and we could
have ended up in the hospital and Kyli is a coma. Thankfully, TEDDY was there and in my eyes
TEDDY saved Kyli's life.

Kyli with her family in 2013

We will be doing a follow-up blog post with questions and answers for Kyli's parents. If you have questions you'd like us to ask please email teddy.study@ucdenver.edu include a note referring to this blog and your question.